


Timendi Causa Est Nescire

by Nyodrite



Series: Leonis Black | Leon Harper [5]
Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: According to Ron, Assistant!Cedric, DADA Professor!Leon, First Class, Gen, Hand-wavey magic explanations, Hufflepuffs are secretly evil, Leon (and Cedric) have a dramatic entrence, Leon vs. Umbridge, Nothing could go wrong, Or where in Leon is a professor, Or...odd, Professor!Leon, Shield Charms, Teacher!Leon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 17:22:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7901257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyodrite/pseuds/Nyodrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A loud <em><strong>Bang! </strong></em>and in waltzed Harry's fellow Champion Leon Harper, a Hufflepuff early graduate, and his friend Cedric Diggory, another Hufflepuff early graduate.</p><p>"Sorry we're late!" Leon called, arms spread while Cedric looked vaguely apologetic but mostly resigned. "You wouldn't <em>believe</em> the traffic!"</p><p>Professor Dumbledore stood and announced, "I'd like to welcome Mr. Diggory, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher assistant, and Professor Harper- our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"</p><p>"<em>Blimey</em>!" Ron hissed, "Our teacher's a 'puff!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The DADA Teacher

**Author's Note:**

> Timendi causa est nescire: The cause of fear is ignorance

"Who's that?" she said sharply, pointing towards the middle of the staff table.

Harry's eyes followed hers. They lit first upon Professor Dumbledore, sitting in his high-backed golden chair at the center of the long staff table, wearing deep-purple robes scattered with silvery stars and a matching hat. Dumbledore's head was inclined towards the woman sitting next to him, who was talking into his ear.  She looked, Harry thought, like somebody's maiden aunt: squat, with short, curly, mouse-brown hair in which she had placed a horrible pink Alice band that matched the fluffy pink cardigan she wore over her robes. Then she turned her face slightly to take a sip from her goblet and he saw, with a shock of recognition, a pallid, toad like face and a pair of prominent, pouchy eyes.

"It's that Umbridge woman!"

"Who?" said Hermione.

"She was at my hearing, she works for Fudge!"

"Nice cardigan," said Ron, smirking.

"She works for Fudge!" Hermione repeated, frowning. "What on earth's she doing here, then?"

"Dunno."

Hermione scanned the staff table, her eyes narrowed. "No," she muttered, "No, surely not."

It wasn't until later, that Harry's attention was drawn back to that Umbridge woman.

"We have had two changes in staffing this year. We are very pleased to welcome back Professor Grubbly-Plank, who will be taking Care of Magical Creatures lessons; we are also delighted to introduce Professor Umbridge-" The Headmaster broke off, looking enquiringly at Professor Umbridge.

 As she was not much taller standing than sitting, there was a moment when nobody understood why Dumbledore had stopped talking, but then Professor Umbridge cleared her throat, "Hem, hem," and it became clear that she had got to her feet and was intending to make a speech.

"Thank you, Headmaster," Professor Umbridge simpered, "For those kind words of welcome." Her voice was high-pitched, breathy and little-girlish and, again, Harry felt a powerful rush of dislike that he could not explain to himself; all he knew was that he loathed everything about her, from her stupid voice to her fluffy pink cardigan. She gave another little throat-clearing cough ("hem, hem") and continued.   
"Well, it is lovely to be back at Hogwarts, I must say!" She smiled, revealing very pointed teeth. "And to see such happy little faces looking up at me!"

Harry glanced around. None of the faces he could see looked happy. On the contrary, they all looked rather taken-aback at being addressed as though they were five years old. "I am very much looking forward to getting to know you all and I'm sure we'll be very good friends!"

Professor Umbridge cleared her throat again ("hem, hem"), but when she continued, some of the breathiness had vanished from her voice. She sounded much more businesslike and now her words had a dull learned-by-heart sound to them. "The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of vital importance. The rare gifts with which you were born may come to nothing if not nurtured and honed by careful instruction. The ancient skills unique to the wizarding community must be passed down the generations lest we lose them for ever. The treasure trove of magical knowledge amassed by our ancestors must be guarded, replenished and polished by those who have been called to the noble profession of teaching."

Professor Umbridge paused here and made a little bow to her fellow staff members, none of whom bowed back to her. Professor McGonagall's dark eyebrows had contracted so that she looked positively hawk like, and Harry distinctly saw her exchange a significant glance with Professor Sprout as Umbridge gave another little "hem, hem" and went on with her speech. "Every headmaster and headmistress of Hogwarts has brought something new to the weighty task of governing this historic school, and that is as it should be, for without progress there will be stagnation and decay. There again, progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering. A balance, then, between old and new, between permanence and change, between tradition and innovation-"

A loud _**Bang!**_ and in waltzed Harry's fellow Champion Leon Harper, a Hufflepuff early graduate, and his friend Cedric Diggory, another Hufflepuff early graduate.

"Sorry we're late!" Leon called, arms spread while Cedric looked vaguely apologetic but mostly resigned. "You wouldn't _believe_ the traffic!"

Professor Dumbledore stood and announced, "I'd like to welcome Mr. Diggory, our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher assistant, and Professor Harper- our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"

" _Blimey_!" Ron hissed, "Our teacher's a 'puff!"


	2. Professor Harper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umbridge smiled, "I see that you have things at hand, Mr. Harper, I'll be checking in next month."
> 
> "Nya!" Leon stuck his tongue out at her once the door shut behind her as she left, startling a rumble of laughter from his students and he winked at them. "Now that The Dreaded is gone, time for us to begin! My name, as you should know from last year, is Leon Harper- you may call me Leon, Harper, Professor or a combination of the three and you may also call me Sir or Mister, Mr. Leon (though not Mr. Harper because I have graduated so I've had enough with _that_ epithet) and Sir Leon if you feel like it I suppose. My friend, assistant, moral compass and all around minder is Cedric Diggory but you may call him Cesar Hufferton XII-"
> 
> "Cedric will be fine." his friend cut in.
> 
> "Or that." He shrugged, vanishing the stack of papers and sitting on his desk, legs kicking childishly like he was on a swing.

"If I may inquire as to what you plan on teaching your students, _Professor_?" Umbridge asked.

Leon patted the, quite large, stack of papers on his desk. "First I'm going to be testing on what they know, since there has been some...less the satisfactory teachers in charge previously," He blinked innocently, playing up the _'I am just a harmless Hufflepuff'_ card as if he didn't consider _her_ one such teacher. "So I expect we'll be heading back to basics- I think some theory will do them good." Leon added musingly.

Umbridge smiled, "I see that you have things at hand, Mr. Harper, I'll be checking in next month."

"Nya!" Leon stuck his tongue out at her once the door shut behind her as she left, startling a rumble of laughter from his students and he winked at them. "Now that The Dreaded is gone, time for us to begin! My name, as you should know from last year, is Leon Harper- you may call me Leon, Harper, Professor or a combination of the three and you may also call me Sir or Mister, Mr. Leon (though not Mr. Harper because I have graduated so I've had enough with _that_ epithet) and Sir Leon if you feel like it I suppose. My friend, assistant, moral compass and all around minder is Cedric Diggory but you may call him Cesar Hufferton XII-"

"Cedric will be fine." his friend cut in.

"Or that." He shrugged, vanishing the stack of papers and sitting on his desk, legs kicking childishly like he was on a swing. "In all honesty, I do need to test what you know- since barring the much loved Professor Lupin, may he find happiness wherever he is, the crop of DADA teacher you've got was rather...sucky with various performance issues-" A few snorts told him that the allusion was noticed, "I know imposter!Moody did defensive spells with us, what I want to know is did you learn the Shield Charm _Protego_? Mr. Longbottom?"

Neville startled, "U-uh...y-yes Pr-professor M-mood, um, w-we went over i-it."

"Great! Ten points to Gryffindor, Mr. Longbottom, speaking in front of the class can be scary but you did well." Leon made sure to compliment the little puppy-like student. "Now," He mourned briefly that he had no glasses to push up and have glint ominously but his hair was long enough that if he tilted just _so_ it shadowed his eyes in an equally ominous manner. "Let's see how well you learned that lesson. _Pungo._ "

He aimed at Harry, expecting the boy to have the best reflexes and was not disappointed when the boy immediately shouted, " _Protego!_ "

The Stinging Hex, a light purple-red color, made contact with the shield and faded away trying to get through. "Excellent, Mr. Potter! Take twenty points! Now that you all know how things will be going," Leon said. "I won't be going easy so it's best to be aware, have your wands out and- _Pungo_ -" Hermione yelped as the hex hit her, shield rippling into place a moment too late. "-be prepared! _Pungo! Pungo! Pungo! Pungo! Pungo! Pungo!_ "

Only two of the ones he aimed at managed to get up a shield in time and strong enough to withstand, one wasn't quick enough, two's shields broke and the last dodged instead. "Come now, Mr. Thomas! Dodging completely misses- _Pungo!_ \- the point!"

A nod to his friend at the other end of the class, when the students started getting stung a lot less, had Cedric shooting the hex from behind the fifth years- yelps and squeals were predominant once more.

Leon clapped his hands twenty minutes later when the kids were all in various states of disarray but all managing to not get hit anymore. "What have you learned, little lion cubs?"

"Hufflepuffs are secretly _evil_." Ron huffed out getting a few groans in agreement.

He snickered, earning more then a few glares. "Not the answer I was looking for but I'll give you five points simply because it amused me so. Nah, what you kittens-" the boys let out protesting noises so he changed it to, "What you _adorable little **kittens**_ learned was how to properly use a standard Shield Charm during a combat-like situation in a safe environment. If nothing else, I'm sure those Slytherins you're at odds with won't be managing to hit you anymore.  And Ms. Granger?"

"You said _standard_ Shield Charm," Hermione said. "What other variations are there."

"That is a difficult question," Leon told her. "The _Protego_ spell is an odd one as it's so _easy_ to alter it. Adding _Totalum_ so that it's _Protego Totalum_ will have shield around an area, it works best to cover the average size of a house rather then something like Hogwarts, and is quite frequently used by, well, people like _us_." He gestured to himself and Cedric who waved innocently when the students warily eyed him. "Ms. Brown?"

Lavender blinked rapidly at him, he shot a look at his friend when Cedric covered a snicker with a cough, "What do you by like 'us'?"

"Well," Leon eyed her a bit freaked out by the continuous, rapid blinking. "Cedric and I were traveling since our early graduation last year, 's why we were late since we were hurrying back from Romania- visiting your brother Mr. Weasley. We were mainly backpacking around Europe, sadly we had to leave Moontail and Nightclaw with Charlie, and we camped out as often as we slept in a hotel or hostel- we used _Protego Totalum_ to secure our camp when we had one, which is what I meant by us." He looked back at Hermione, "Back to your question. Adding _Totalum_ makes a personal shield into an area shield, changing Totalum to something like _Horribilis_ will defend an even _wider_ area (exact size depends on the skill and power of the caster) with the benefit of targeting what the caster considers as 'horrible' rather then the general everything not already inside. Because of this, there are very many variations out there which is why I say your question is a tough one Ms. Granger- added are that people have their own preferences on what types of shield spells they cast."

"I know _Protego Horribilis_ from Professor Flitwick whom has used it to help defend Diagon Alley during the War of 1970." Leon said. "My friend Tonks, an Auror, says she uses  _Terra_ _Protego_ which combines rock and stone with her shield to strengthen it against things like _Bombarda_. Charlie uses _Protego Flamma_  and _Protego Flamma Maxima_ to protect himself from dragon fire, the former for young or very old dragons while the later is for adult dragons. The order also effects the spell, Tonks' has _Terra_ before _Protego_ makes it so it's a shield _of_ earth while Charlie's has _Flamma_ after _Protego_ which makes it a shield  _for_ fire. So, knowing this, how would you make a shield _of_ water and  _for_ water? Mr. Thomas?"

Dean blinked, "Er...uh, well _aqua_ means water so I guess _Aqua Protego_ would be a shield of water and _Protego Aqua_ would be a shield for water."

"Excellent! Fifteen points!" Leon said. " _Aqua Protego_ is my personal favorite, I find water easy to control and a quick freezing charm has it solid while a lightning spell makes it something that can stop even an angry Hippogriff. Cedric prefers Tonks' type since the earth gives him material to transfigure if he needs to abandon the shield for attack. Since we're just about out of time, I want each of you to come up with _three_ variations of the Shield Charm- that wasn't said in class- and write _why_ you chose them and in which situations would they be ideal for along with where would they not do you any good. Explanation. _Protego Flamma_ is good against flames so if you're in a fire you want that but if you used _Flamma Protego_ , a shield of fire, in that same situation it would be less then helpful, yeah? Now! Be gone fuzz balls!"

He grinned when he heard "... _fuzz balls_!?" as the kids filed out.

"So?" Leon asked his friend.

Cedric grinned, "Alright, maybe this won't turn out to be a disaster."

He fist pumped. "Yes!"

" _Just_ maybe!" His friend insisted but the pureblood was laughing so Leon knew it was just for show.

**Author's Note:**

> A lot (the majority) of this chapter is taken from the book (or at least the version of OotP I found online). Basically, mostly everything happened as it did in Canon except Leon was Hogwarts' Champion instead of Cedric- and, well, he lived- so Harry, Hermione and Neville are all Gryffindors and, sadly, the Court of Clams never existed and/or went beyond Hufflepuff house/being a book smuggling ring.


End file.
